The Yorks finally got it right, 9 years later

Nine years ago, the 49ers began their rumbling, stumbling, bumbling descent into the wilderness in pathetic fashion.

Head coach Steve Mariucci, fired by John York and Terry Donahue in a clumsy denouement to an awkward power struggle, exited team headquarters in a black van with curtains drawn. I’m not kidding.

So unable to articulate his vision for the team, York hemmed and hawed his way through a conference call with reporters the day of the firing. The owner refused to meet face-to-face with the media. He did the call from upstairs at team headquarters – while we scribes sat downstairs, just a few hundred feet away, holding the phone to our ears while simultaneously rolling our eyes.

Dysfunction had not only run amok, it had broken into the open field and was eyeing pay dirt.

I know. I was covering the 49ers for The Chronicle in January 2003. Returning from an antiseptic press box in Tampa Bay, where the 49ers of Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens got smashed into playoff oblivion by Jon Gruden’s eventual Super Bowl champs, we writers found the York-Donahue-Mariucci mess spilling all over the legacy of a team that was the gold standard of the NFL for two decades.

The next decade wasn’t golden, or up to anybody’s standard. Think Rome, post-Visigoth.

Nine years later, the sins of the past have been cleansed in 49ersLand.

They finally got it right.

Ever since York and Donahue axed Mariucci without a plan, the organization has fumbled trying to find one. Dennis Erickson’s hire only proved how unprepared York and Donahue were when they sacked Mooch. Mike Nolan had the name, but he also had a revolving door at offensive coordinator. Mike Singletary? When he dropped his pants in front of the team, the jig was up. Oh, that happened at halftime of his first game, by the way.

One year ago, Jed York, the son of John and current team CEO, had one assignment only in the minds of fans: Land Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh was the only guy for the job. His work at Stanford was just a few yards shy of miraculous. He was young. He knew quarterbacking. He had an offensive playbook. He had an idea. In terms of the franchise’s future, it took on Ahab/white whale urgency.

And Jed, bless his stadium-seeking soul, nailed it.

The lost decade was over.

From my perspective, Mariucci was a writer’s dream – accessible, friendly and understanding the game of mutual back-scratching. By contrast, from my new perspective, Harbaugh is a broadcaster’s challenge – wary, suspect and believing the only place for mutual harmony is between him and his players. Our weekly Tuesday interviews with Harbaugh, while sometimes fruitful, could also be like trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle.

No matter. Sundays are the only days that matter now. For a 49ers team that disappeared from the NFL, Harbaugh is the explorer who re-discovered it. Who’s leaving Santa Clara in black vans, with curtains drawn? Noooobody.

Brian Murphy, a former Chronicle staff writer, is a morning talk show host on KNBR 680.